This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
One major issue in DC power systems is the electrical arcing that can occur when a current carrying conductor breaks, e.g., due to wear and tear, aging, friction between insulated wires and sharp objects, etc. In AC power systems, arcing faults can be less severe because the arc may extinguish itself during a zero crossing of the current. However, in DC power systems, the arcing can continue indefinitely, once ignited. This can create major safety and fire hazards in applications such as electric vehicles, telecommunications central office environments, DC data centers, aircrafts, and residential photovoltaic power generation, to name a few.
To address this issue, many DC power systems are configured to detect arcing and, in response to a detected arcing condition, shut down the power source or the load.